Well, I don't want to speak too soon, but it looks like I'll actually start work tomorrow, I just won't be properly oriented until next Wednesday. I'm still waiting on an email from my teammate with a time, but I've been told I'll get one, so hooray.

In the meantime, I used my day of unexpected vacation to make an unplanned tour of North Seattle - after finding a place to get my leaking tire fixed in Ballard. They fixed it in about an hour, for NO CHARGE! Apparently a patch which had been put in that tire previously was leaking, and I guess they were under the impression that they were the ones who put the previous patch in. Whatever, if they can't keep/check books, that's not my problem, I wasn't going to insist.

So, armed with a car which would make it more than 10 blocks without getting a flat, I decided to check out the area - I wandered around Ballard for a few minutes before ending up in Fremont, which seems like a nice place. I saw the giant statue of Lenin, but not the troll - I guess I've got something to go back for now. Soon I happened upon Gasworks Park, the converted industrial gasworks which sits at the northern end of Lake Union - the views are spectacular, it was a wonderful day, and so I decided to lay around there for an hour or so and read a book. It was a great time.

I proceeded from there around the top of Lake Union, and ended up happening on the Agua Verde Cafe/Boathouse, which comes well-recommended, for both boating and eating. I didn't really want to eat, but I did stop in and get some fresh-squeezed lemonade for the road. I'll have to check out their kayak rentals, Dave and I had discussed kayaking sometime.

After that I went up towards UW and took a quick cruise down The Ave, just to see what's what. Before too long I found myself back on I-5, so I took the hint and went home. So here I am.

If there's change in the work situation, I'll be sure to let you know, otherwise wish me luck on my second first day tomorrow!

Well, I've got an update on the work situation - I'm not sure if it's final yet, but it looks like I won't make a second attempt until July 5, next Wednesday. I guess it's OK, since the movers are coming July 3, and now I neither have to take a day off nor worry about trying to go to orientation and delay/meet the movers. On the minus side, I now have another 9 days of doing nothing, and no money to do it with. Oh well.

Further on the plus side, my future manager Russel came by my apartment earlier, dropped off a handwritten note from a VP apologizing (which was nice), an invitation to go see Superman with some of the Amazon crew on Friday, and an iPod, all of which was very considerate, I thought.

So, any suggestions on what I should be doing with all this time, let me know - and that includes book recommendations, I'm plowing through them at an alarming rate - today alone I finished The Professor and the Madman, about the writing of the Oxford English Dictionary (highly recommended), and I'm nearly finished with Founding Brothers, a history of the important guys behind the constitution and some of the most defining moments in their history. I expect to finish it tonight.

I guess I'll be putting that new library card to the test (but I can only check out 5 things my first month!)

Well, my first day at Amazon was...inauspicious. I got up on time, took a shower, had a cup of tea and a bagel, and hopped on the bus. Got to Amazon a half-hour early, and immediately ran into the first problem - my name wasn't on the orientation roster. No problem, they wrote me in, I got a temp badge, and was ushered off to the badging office to get my photo taken - except the badging office also didn't know who I was. So off to orientation, where there were laptops arranged alphabetically at a series of tables - excepting mine, of course. So, I sat down, we played a little Amazon.com trivia game (everybody wins, hooray!), and then Jim Mullins, my recruiter, showed up. Apparently, several months ago when I asked to have my start date changed, he changed it in a few places, but not everywhere - e.g., my manager knows I was supposed to start today, but the people who set up my computer do not. So, he's got to change some things around, and I'll be able to start early this week at the earliest, and have to do orientation some other time. I guess it could be worse, at least someone knows who I am and I've already passed my background check.

Upon leaving, I figured it was a golden opportunity to see what the walk to my apartment is like - so I set off, and discovered that the walk, about 1.3 miles, isn't *too* bad, but getting up First Hill is about 8-10 blocks of steady incline, which wears on you after a while. I made it to my apartment in about 20-25 minutes, which I figure isn't too bad. The walk to work would likely take about 5 minutes less. I went to my apartment to see if my mailbox key or parking permit might've been dropped off in my apartment, and to see how my stove repair was coming along. Alas, the key and permit weren't there, but what was was a brand new stove! Nothing fancy, but a new gas range and oven, all shiny-new, and all the burners worked. So that's a plus.

Then I took the opportunity to walk back to my temp apartment, which is about another 1.5 miles. I took a little detour past the Seattle Public Library and picked up my library card, for which I'd applied online a few days ago, and now I'm back at my apartment.

With nothing to do all day.

I need to get a tire patched on my car, then maybe I'll go up to Fremont - I've heard it's nice, and there'll probably be less tourists on a Monday afternoon.

That's all from me, I hope your days went more smoothly.

Overheard, while crossing 1st Avenue, in front of the Seattle Art Museum:

Boy, about 14: What's MOMA mean?
Girl, maybe 8?: It's the museum of modern art.
Boy, about 12: Yeah, it's the stupidest thing ever - imagine a bunch of canvases painted all red, with spots on them, and then a bunch of blue canvases with spots.
Boy, 14: Yeah, I know what modern art is!

It's good to see these kids getting a good art education.

On a different note, I start work tomorrow, bright and early. Wish me luck, I'll report back.

So, I never thought I'd be saying this, and if you know me at all, you'll agree: I'm pretty tired of doing nothing.

My car was delivered without incident; they just dropped it off right at my temp place, I signed some papers, and we were done. Very nice. Of course, since they asked that I leave no more than 1/8 tank of gas in it before they picked it up, the very first thing I had to do was go get gas - and find somewhere to park. Remember I forgot my parking permit in the rental car?

So I called Aboda, the temp housing people, and they were like, "Oh, sure, we can give you another one - someone will be at your apartment in 45 minutes. That'll be $150." So I argued for a while, and got them to compromise - if I can find the old permit, and return both, they won't charge me. Great. The rental car people, predictably, have no idea where it is, but they keep calling me and telling me they're still looking for it. On the plus side, the permit gets replaced at the end of the month (a few days before I check out of here), and I get a new one, for July. If everything goes well, I'll return the one pass issued for July and they'll forget all about it. Or I'll punch them in the teeth - either way, I'll enjoy it.

So now I have my car, and I signed the lease on my apartment - everything is in order. I've got keys (though I'm still missing the mailbox keys and my parking permit, neither of which are really important just now), and everything is OK - except for the front two burners of the stove, from which the gas pipes have been broken off. Interesting, but fixable.

Not too much to report for the rest of the week - got a haircut Tuesday afternoon, at Bella Vita Salon (Michael's pick), which was OK, but I may consider finding somewhere else - after going back and getting 15% off on the next cut. There's a few highish-end men's barber shops around which are cheaper, cater exclusively to men, and don't make me run around in a nylon cape with buttons on the wrong side - sounds delightful. While at the salon, Michael and I met Mark David, the stylist, a fabulous gentleman (FAB-U-LOUS) who invited us to what promised to be our entertainment for the weekend - Bat 'N' Rouge, the drag queen vs. lesbian softball game, on Saturday. The rest of the week passed with relatively little incident - I met Michael's roommate Laurie's mother Friday night, which was cool - she's pretty awesome, and then Saturday was the game, which was twice as entertaining as I thought it could be - though, being a charity event, it was also a shameless shakedown the whole time. They did raise like $5k for a drug/alcohol treatment center though, so I guess it's OK.

Yesterday I went to Neumos to see PSAPP, of whom I'd never heard, Juana Molina, who I'd heard of through KEXP Seattle, my chosen local radio station, and Jose Gonzalez, who was the only reason I'd go to a concert by myself. It turned out to be really good, both acts I was unfamiliar with were very good, though different - PSAPP was 6 people playing a wide array of instruments - from drums and guitars, through violins and keyboards, on to whistles, stuffed chickens, and a few mechanical cats - interesting. Juana Molina played guitar, but also two keyboards, and used many kinds of digital trickery to layer these over each other live, which was actually really interesting - I'd like to check out her albums and see how similar they are. Jose was just him, a guitar, and a mic to pick up his foot-tapping, no digital trickery involved, but it was awesome. The only problem was the vibe of the evening - PSAPP were very loud and funky, so the audience got loud and funky - and drunk. Juana Molina changed her set midway through to accomodate, choosing some louder songs over some softer. Jose, however, had no choice, as he's only got 1 CD and a couple EPs of material to work through, so there were times when the audience got a little loud during songs. I guess for the most part they were OK though, and I had a great time.

This morning, I got a call from my future teammate at Amazon inviting me over there for lunch, so I went - I met a few of my future groupmates, saw my office and met my officemate, got a general tour of the facilities and learned in sweeping details about what I'll be doing starting next week. Looks like fun.

Coincidentally, as I was loitering outside Neumo's before the show yesterday, I was on the phone with Dawn, and thought I saw a friend of mine from high school going into the bar across the street. When I got home, I had a facebook message - from the very same friend, saying she'd noticed I had a house, and was thinking about stopping by to give me a little housewarming present. How nice, I know - but since I don't live there yet, I suggested we get drinks elsewhere, and asked if she'd been near Neumo's the night before. Turns out it was her, and we're meeting at the same place this Thursday. I'm still struck by what a small world it is, even in a huge city where I know a grand total of 5 people. Ridiculous.

So, that's it for the rest of the week - meeting Stephanie Thursday, maybe finding David for a drink sometime between now and work, then starting work Monday. I called the movers and my stuff won't be here until July 3, so I really have nothing moving-related to do until then.

There, everyone happy - I updated.

Also, Happy 2-year Anniversary, Dawn!

So, I haven't posted in a while (comparatively), mostly because nothing at all has been happening. As I left you on Thursday, I was poised to go out to Kirkland - and I did. I met David and Bernice out there, we ate some wonderful Chinese food, and I came back to Seattle and hung around with Michael and his friend Nichole (sp?) for a while. Fun fun.

Friday, not too much to report. Finished the book I was reading, In a Sunburned Country, by Bill Bryson, which I recommend - a chronicle of his tour of the entire country of Australia, both inside and out. Entertaining. Then I realized I was out of books, and mine aren't due to arrive for a while yet. So I was off to the Elliott Bay Book Company, a well-known and extremely large bookshop a few blocks down from me (and a completely wonderful place), where I bought 3 more books: A History of the World in 6 Glasses, which examines periods in history by their beverage of choice, another Bryson book, this one about England, entitled Notes from a Small Island, and a third, bargain selection, called An Imperfect God, about George Washington's relations with and thoughts on the slave trade during his life. I've already finished the first two, so you can pretty much guess what I've been doing all week.

Saturday was more of the same - although I did see an apartment I liked, at Broadway and James, a nice 2 bed, 2 bath place. As it turns out, my application just came back OK, so I'm buying the place on the 15th. Go me!

Sunday, I went to see Donavon Frankenreiter with my cousin Laura, which was an excellent time. We ate at a place called Julia's on Broadway before the show, and I had some wonderful jambalaya and she some very good artichoke ravioli. It was all quite wonderful. If a bootleg ever surfaces for the show (and I expect one will), I'll post a link here.

Yesterday...completely nothing. I left the house once to go give the realtor my apartment application, and again later to buy a small hunk of Copper River King Salmon at Pike Place (which was nearly worth the $27.99/lb they tried to charge me for it).

Today I received a call saying my car is to be delivered tomorrow, so I went to return the rental. No problem, took a bus back, but then realized I left my little hanging parking tag in the car - so I stopped by the office, expecting them to produce one in no time. But alas, apparently I have to call Aboda (the corporate housing people who I'm actually renting my temp place from, apparently), it's their thing. So I did, and my agent informs me that there will be a $150 replacement fee for this thing. Let me describe it. It is a half-sheet of yellow cardstock, with a small hole at the top, which has printed on it the words "JUNE 2006," and some identifying numbers. There is no way in hell that I'm paying $150 to replace it.

So I've got a call in to the rental car people, we'll see if they can find it.

I told myself not to forget to grab it before I left.

Oh well, I've got an apartment!

This was a repeat of the next post, which it won't let me delete for some reason. Please ignore it. Thanks Blogger!

Well, not too much new to report today - still looking at apartments, but I've seen so many white walls and off-white carpets I can't keep them straight anymore. I've got 2 more to go, unless I find new ones today or tomorrow, and if I don't find anything I like better, I'll be going back to the first one I saw, the Metropolitan Park, despite the construction.

What is far more exciting in my life is the many, many brushes with fame I've had in my short time here in Seattle. First Tom Bihn, of whom no one has heard but me, but today, a new name, marginally more recognizable, a member in the veritable "Who's That?" of minor celebrities.

I had an appointment this afternoon to look at an apartment in Uwajimaya Village, a huge Asian grocery/gift store/ridiculous mini-mall, which is located in the Southwest corner of the International District, basically across the street from Qwest Stadium and Safeco Field, and directly across the street from one of the Amazon.com offices - so I wouldn't have to drive to work, I could take a shuttle. They never showed up, so I'm going back tomorrow. To get there, however, I had to walk through Pioneer Square, the historical center of Seattle, and a hip and happenin' place. In Pioneer Square is a little tiny lunch spot I've been advised to go to called Salumi, owned by the father of Mario Batali, Armandino. I passed by yesterday, but there was no parking and a line out the door, so I gave it a miss. Today, however, I was walking, and had an hour to kill, so I went in.

The place is tiny, a 2-foot-wide hallway competing for space with a long but narrow deli bar, behind which sit some of the most delicious-looking cured meats ever. But as I got past a wall and could see both the deli bar and Armandino further in, I saw another face I recognized. It took me a minute to place it, but it turned out to be Anthony Bourdain, another fairly well-known food guy, with a number of books and TV shows to his name. He had with him a few camera people who were flitting about getting many different angles of him making sandwiches - which he did pretty well. So, if anyone hears anything about an episode of No Reservations in Seattle, let me know, since I'll probably appear in it.

The sandwich (braised Oxtail, today's special), was delicious, and possibly the messiest sandwich I have ever tried to eat out of a paper bag while sitting at a bus stop. Worth it, though.

Tonight I'm headed to Kirkland to meet David, a fellow Purdue grad turned Amazonian, along with another friend of his from Purdue headed to Microsoft, for dinner and who knows what. I'll report back.

So, as I mentioned yesterday, I just bought a MacBook. Unfortunately, I did not also buy a case - and there's no dependable internet in my temporary apartment. So in order to access the internet, I have to bring the laptop with me. So far, I've been accomplishing this by putting the laptop back in the airplane pillow case they sold it to me in, and putting that in my bag. Very secure, I know. So today, after looking at apartment number 2, I decided to look for a bag. On searching, not very many people make bags for the MacBook yet, since it's so new - but one place that said they did is Seattle-based Tom Bihn bags (you may have heard about them a while back, for their Treason Tags).

So I went down to the Tom Bihn factory, and started looking for the Size 6 Brain Cell which was supposed to hold my MacBook - but an employee informed me that they won't actually be made until the end of July! Fortunately, the size 4 kinda fits, and there was a creased one that was super-cheap, so I bought it. Then the interesting thing happened.

The clerk told me to hang on for a second, and left the room. She came back with none other than Mr. Tom Bihn, who was holding a Brain Cell - a size 6 prototype he'd made himself, and hadn't been able to test-fit yet. I let him borrow my laptop, and in exchange, he let me have the prototype (which fits great.) So I have the first MacBook sleeve made by Tom Bihn! I feel pretty special right now - it doesn't take much to make me feel that way though.

In other news, the laptop itself is still wonderful - I just put XCode on it this afternoon so I'll be able to use it for light development. Hooray!

Ok, so here they are - some of the pictures I promised. I'm not going to post pictures here unless it's one or two pictures I particularly like, but you can always to go my Flickr to see what's up. What's up right now is a set of pictures of the apartment I looked at this morning. Let me know what you think!

Well, I'm here. In Seattle, my new home for the next...while. At least a few years. I don't want to speculate too much.

Getting here was relatively uneventful - the movers came (on time!), packed all of my earthly belongings, put 'em on a truck, and took off. It was all pretty easy - like, so easy I felt kinda bad about it. The only downside was when the movers tried to use a dolley to take some boxes out, but left a few grease marks on the carpet in my living room - oh well, I don't live there anymore. They say they're going to take care of it, so it's Peter's problem now.

After the move, Dawn and I headed up to Chicago - in her overheating deathtrap. We made it to the city, however (by getting off the highway early and taking surface roads downtown to avoid sitting in traffic and overheating), and then wandered Michigan Avenue for a while until dinner at Grand Lux Cafe. I highly recommend it. Then off the the Doubletree O'Hare, to the biggest room in history (no pictures, sorry, but it was awesome), a good night's sleep, a quick breakfast, a slightly misty good-bye and onto the plane. The plane was nice, aisle seat in an exit row, roomy and wonderful. While on the plane, I read the entirety of Three Nights in August, a book about Tony La Russa, baseball, managing, and other baseball stuff. If you like baseball, it's a good read - I don't think anyone's ever been able to talk to La Russa that much ever - it kinda redeems the fact that he spends 90% of his life scowling.

Off the plane, get the bags, get the rental car - after waiting 10 minutes because the woman in front of me had apparently reserved a rental car not understanding that part of the agreement to do so is that you are a LICENSED DRIVER. She didn't understand why the clerk wouldn't give her a car just because she didn't have a driver's license. Whatever. Drove the the city, found my temp apartment (apparently in the hippest apartments in the city, they're OK - pictures later.) Then I called all my Seattle contacts (Michael and my cousin Laura), and made arrangements. I went over to Michael's, we went out to Redmond to meet some of his fellow interns, then came back to the city and went to a gay bar (Manray), which was...interesting. Good times. I ended up staying in Michael's roommate's vacant bed, because it turns out that a few vokda tonics have the effect of far more if you haven't really eaten all day and it's the equivalent of four in the morning. Good times.

Then this morning, when I wandered around downtown with Michael and Noah, and then drove out to the University Village to buy my new MacBook. I was not going to able to make it for a month without any kind of computer, so I bit the bullet. I didn't get any of the options, I'll add them on later, but I just needed something now. It's wonderful, I'll report on it more fully a little later. For now, Michael and I are going to go work out so I can check out his gym, and then later we're going to a comedy club to see one of his co-workers perform. That's about all from me.

Hooray for Seattle (I think I might like it here.)